A MAN claims to have battled with council bosses for two years to have a burnt out van removed from near his back garden.

John Burney, aged 61, fears children who play on the wreckage will injure themselves if it is not taken away.

But, despite frequent telephone calls to Bury Council, the van has been left on a piece of grassland.

Mr Burney, of Cunningham Drive, Unsworth, said the vehicle was set alight one night in May 2000.

He telephoned the fire brigade, who put out the flames, but the van was never removed.

In protest, he stopped paying his council tax for two months -- until the local authority took him to court.

He said: "The van's a real eyesore and a magnet for children. One child gashed his leg. I fear someone will be seriously injured."

A spokesman for Bury Council said: "We do not have a log of an abandoned vehicle on Cunningham Drive but now we have been informed we will deal with the situation as quickly as possible."